Heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems may lower the temperature and remove humidity from a conditioned space by employing a refrigeration cycle where compressed refrigerant is circulated throughout the system. One class of HVAC systems, variable refrigerant flow systems, may perform this same refrigeration cycle at intermediate speeds during partial-load conditions, allowing for efficiency gains compared to conventional systems.
These systems may implement multiple linked units to provide coverage for larger areas and allow for more added control of refrigerant conditions between zones. The complexity of such systems requires distributed controllers that are networked together in order to achieve the improved system control. To operate over such a network, each unit on the network must have a unique address to facilitate proper communication. Manual configuration of each unit address can be difficult and time-intensive, especially with many controllers in unknown or physically inaccessible locations.